Clinton was named after New York’s first governor, George Clinton, an uncle of Erie Canal builder, DeWitt Clinton, the village had a gristmill on the Oriskany Creek on College Street the first year and slowly developed as a farming and mercantile center.

Originally in the Town of Whitestown and then the Town of Paris, Clinton became part of the newly-formed Town of Kirkland in 1827, and became an incorporated village in April 1843 with its own board of trustees, officials, employees, and status as a taxing jurisdiction.

Rev Samuel Kirkland , a missionary to the Oneida Indians, was an early arrival who started the Hamilton-Oneida Academy for white and Indian youth atop College Hill in 1793. This school was chartered in 1812 as Hamilton College by the New York State Board of Regents and was the third liberal arts college in the state.